If you’re anything like me, you never dreamed you’d be living through a global pandemic. There was no blueprint for doing life during COVID-19, no way to know whether we’re doing it the “right” way. As we’ve gotten 6+ months into this new world, I feel like there are some valuable lessons I’ve learned. I would love for you to leave a comment telling me something you’ve learned from this season too!
My kids are so incredibly creative.
I’ve never been a mom who feels like I have to keep my kids entertained. They’ve all been great at entertaining themselves from a very young age and somehow we’ve gone 5 years so far without hearing the dreaded phrase “I’m bored.” But this pandemic has kept us home for longer than we’ve ever been before and even I feel the need to introduce new fun to them. I’ve done some deep dives into my childhood memories and remembered some of my favorite PE games to play. It’s been fun to give them more things they can do while we’re staying home that don’t cost a thing.
I need to make time for myself.
Do I have time to be blogging? Nope. Am I making time? Absolutely. Same with daily exercise – it energizes me for a day of chasing the kids around. If I don’t make time for things I enjoy, no one else is going to. Why has it taken me so long to realize this? I have a few ideas but regardless of the reason, I’m so glad I did. If you’re feeling like you don’t know what self care means to you, I’ve been there and I wrote a post about it. I hope it will help you to see my journey.
People can be awful, but I don’t have to let them get to me.
I think we’ve all seen countless opinions on social media of people on all sides of the stories facing our nation right now. Unleash the Keyboard Warriors on all things political (or even unpolitical things that have somehow become politicized) in an election year and it’s easy to become disenchanted with the outside world. But I’ve reminded myself over and over that I have control over what I see in my social media feeds. If I take the time to curate them and seek out legitimate sources for my news, I’m going to be far less frustrated!
Friendships are worth the work, especially in a pandemic.
Regardless of how you’ve approached COVID life, you probably haven’t seen as much of your friends as you used to. It takes a lot more effort to keep a friendship going these days (even a friendship as old as the one in that picture above) and creativity is key. I’ve enjoyed phone dates with friends, the occasional zoom call, and even a virtual movie night. These are things I didn’t really do before COVID and certainly not before we moved to OKC, and I’m actually really enjoying it.
There are countless more ways that COVID-19 has impacted my life, but I’m most grateful for these. What have you learned from living in this season?
